


roll with me

by philosopherofnothing



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Bad Spanish, Called RBB, Can't Be Bothered To Do Research On Universities, Child Abandonment, Fluff and Smut, Good Spanish, Harry and Zayn Are Friends And Colleagues, Harry is a Spanish teacher, He's also a little shit, I added more tags, I apologise, Louis Niall and Liam Own A Hairdresser's, Louis Wants To Learn Spanish, M/M, OT5 Friendship (One Direction), Recreational Drug Use, Separation, So If It's Inaccurate, Zayn Is A History of Art Teacher, i don't know how to do this, lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:40:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27463579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/philosopherofnothing/pseuds/philosopherofnothing
Summary: Harry is a Spanish teacher. Louis wants to learn Spanish. Harry doesn't want to teach him.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Kudos: 3





	roll with me

_H_

"See? That's better," Harry says, trying to fight the amused smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. It's hard, but he has to. It will end up in chaos if he doesn't- it has happened before. Even when he has assured her multiple times that he's _not_ making fun of her, that he never would. There's no use. Just a sliver of a smile and bam: extremely uncooperative for at least a week. And they are finally making _real_ progress... He can't risk it. So he breathes in deeply, and resumes. "Now, move onto the next paragraph. Try to put a bit more strength into it when it appears. Make it vibrate a bit more."

He focuses back on the open notebook in front of him, finishing the rest of the sentence he was composing. He lowers his pen as he flips through the last two pages, checking for possible mistakes or incoherences. He knows there's none, but one can never be too sure. 

"Okay. _Pablou_.. Sorry. _Pablo nació en un_... What? Oh, yeah, _un pueblito cerca de un_... de un- _un rí_ \- _un rí_..."

He turns his head slowly when hears an exasperated groan coming from his right side, taking those extra seconds to school his expression again into something a bit more neutral. Professional, even. It proves a little bit difficult - a lot, actually - when the girl's behaviour resembles more a kindergartner than an actual 12-year-old. They look at each other for a beat, the girl pouting with her arms crossed over her chest and Harry almost failing to hide his amused smile. She breaks first.

"It's a lost cause," Marley whines, her head hitting the wooden table with a soft thud. " _I'm_ a lost cause."

"No, you're not," he replies, voice serious now. He turns his body towards her completely and places his right hand on her shoulder, palm rubbing soothing circles over the fabric of her shirt. A minute passes, then two, but she doesn't come back up. Harry wraps his finger around one of her long, chocolatey curls and tugs softly. She does react to that, letting out a mixture of a groan and a laugh, and then turns her face to the side. Slowly, she opens her eyes, and Harry can see they are glassy. His heart sinks. "Please, don't be so hard on yourself. You know how long it took me to roll my _rs_ like this, Mar. You've only been studying Spanish for 8 months and already are ten times better than me at your age."

"Must have inherited that from someone," Gemma says matter-of-factly as she walks into the living room, carrying a tray with what looks like some ham and cheese sandwiches, two mugs, some sugar cubes in a bowl, a milk jug and a steaming teapot. "Certainly not me. I can't speak the language for shit."

Marley's head shoots up at that, childish giggles erupting from her mouth. Harry glares at the two of them and shakes his head, but mouths a _th_ _ank you_ to his sister as he takes the tray from her and sets it on his left. 

"Oh, shut it. She's my child, I talk around her how I want," Gemma replies, sticking out her tongue at Harry when his frown deepens, making Marley even more amused. He shoots the kid a warning glance but it only makes her laugh even harder, both her hands covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle her high-pitched laugh. 

"Well, she's my _niece_ and I don't think you should be speaking around her like that,"

"I thought I was paying you to be her Spanish _teacher_ , not her _uncle_ ,"

Harry sighs. He knows when he's lost a battle. "Fair enough."

"That's what I thought," Gemma teases him, but there's no bite to it. She walks over to him and presses a kiss to his head before ruffling his own set of curls. She takes a seat next to him and starts preparing their cuppas. "How many sugars?"

"None today. Thanks." He replies as he takes the mug from her hands. He looks down at the steaming liquid and scrunches his nose before blowing on the surface delicately. She always makes it too hot.

"Does that mean we're done for today?" Marley beams at them, trademark Styles dimples making an appearance.

"If you think I'm talking to you after that scene you've just caused, you're wrong." 

"Well... you are kind of still talking to me, Uncle Haz," Mar smirks as she leans over him to take the mug Gemma has just finished pouring for her. She grabs the sugar bowl and uses her fingers to pick and drop the cubes into her tea. Harry counts five.

" _That_ she took from me," Gemma laughs and reaches across to high-five her daughter. Harry just stares ahead unamusedly as their hands clap loudly in front of his face. 

"Ha ha. Very funny. I'm laughing so hard. Please stop, it hurts."

"You know we loooove youuuu," Gemma and Marley chant in unison, both leaning in at the same time to plant a loud kiss on both his cheeks. And maybe that makes him smile. Just a little.

He can never stay mad at them for more than a minute. It's always been like that. It started with Gems when they were kids. Their mom hated it, hated the way they would tease each other relentlessly, which made it even more entertaining. Probably the only entertaining thing he remembers doing in Holmes Chapel, really. And then, when Mar came along and was old enough to understand jokes and sarcasm and pranks, it got even better. They team up against the other and they do it often but they never take it too far. It's just a little bit of banter. It comes in handy when things are uneasy around the house, when they need to lighten the mood, like when Gems or Harry have a bad day at work, or Mar gets a bad mark at school. Or like when their father died abruptly and left them the house they live in now - a house too big for three people. Or like when Marley's father decided to fuck off and leave a very young Gemma and an even younger Marley to their own devices. 

Laughter has truly helped them a lot. 

Harry doesn't remember a life before moving in with his sister and his niece. No matter how hard he tries, he simply does not. Sometimes he will lie in bed late at night and try. He will wonder how different his life might have been if his ex brother-in-law hadn't decided to abort his family five years ago. What would have happened if Robin, their father, hadn't died the year before. If his mother had had enough money to help the girls out. Because it was out of sheer luck that he had been able to step in, all of it happening when he had just finished his Masters and scoring the job at the university. He had done a fair amount of partying and slacking off during his years there and had still managed to graduate in time and with honours. And gotten his dream job. Oh, well. The universe has a funny way of keeping us humble, he supposes. 

Harry doesn't resent them though - Gems and Mar, that is - or his ex brother-in-law for that matter. He is a twat of course, and Harry doesn't even want him breathing the same air as them ever again, but he doesn't resent him. Harry loves his life. He loves his family. He loves his job. How many people can say that after all they've been through? He's almost sure not a lot. 

"I have something to ask you, H" Gemma says, pulling Harry out of his own bubble of thought. 

"Oh?" he replies, placing his now half-full mug back on the tray. He knows Gems doesn't care about the table, but he does.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Mar grab her cuppa and a sandwich and silently leave the room. Hm. 

"There's this regular that has been talking non-stop about wanting to learn Spanish. All he has done this week is go on and on about how he has never been able to find someone who can force anything besides a 'Hello, how are you?' out of him," she stops when Harry rolls his eyes at her. She reciprocates. "Sorry. A ' _Hola, ¿cómo estás?_ '. Is that better?"

"It is."

Wait. 

"Anyway," Gemma cuts him off. "I don't know why it only occurred to me today to tell him that my little brother teaches Spanish. Now, I didn't tell him it was a 100% confirmed that you would give him classes 'cause I know your schedule is tight," she continues as she takes her phone out of her pocket and types in her password. "But I did tell him I'd give you his number."

No. No way. 

Harry takes a deep breath. Then another. He presses the pads of his fingers against his eyelids, not too hard but not too soft either. He knows Gemma means well. He knows, but still...

"Gemma," he starts, giving her a reproachful look.

"I know, I know," she says, lifting both hands in the air in an attempt to placate him. "I'm telling you, I told him like a hundred times I wasn't sure if you'd be able to take him on. I made sure he understood, H."

Harry huffs.

"Come on, Harry. It's just a phone number. Worst case scenario you can't make it work and end up referring him to one of your colleagues. Is that so bad?"

Harry grabs his mug again and grimaces as he takes a big gulp of his now lukewarm tea. He looks up to find his sister already watching him, one eyebrow raised. 

He shrugs noncommittally.

"I can't with you sometimes," she says exasperatedly as she stands up, rounding the table to take the tray.

"Okay, alright! Jesus," Harry says through gritted teeth. "Just text me the bloody number."

"Yay!" Gemma claps once, tray forgotten on the table. She takes out her phone again and after three taps Harry feels a buzz in the front pocket of his jeans.

He gives her a look but doesn't say anything else. He just stands up and leaves the room, both hands cupping the mug of tea he doesn't know why he's still holding onto. He starts towards the stairs but changes his mind at the last minute, aiming for the glass door that leads to the garden. He leaves the mug on the cluttered table next to the door, bending down to hold the straps of his light blue crocs in place and slip them on.

It's a weird day outside. Well, weird for England at least. There's not a cloud in sight, the sky almost as blue as the colour of his shoes. The sun is up and shining bright, strong enough to make his eyes close until they are nothing but slits. Despite the lovely sky, he can feel a chilly breeze seeping through his clothes and the holes in his shoes. Leave it to Harry Styles to wear crocs outside at the end of September. He finds he doesn't mind though. Some days he hates the English weather. Some days, like today, he is grateful for it. He doesn't know why, but it keeps him grounded, in a way. 

He has almost reached the door of the greenhouse when he realizes he hasn't opened Gemma's text message yet. He ponders whether he should wait until he's back inside the house to do so; he wouldn't want to ruin his time in the greenhouse. He also knows that if he waits to make the phone call until after he's done he will be too distracted to fully enjoy his greenhouse time. He pulls out his phone with a sigh. The screen lights up as he's about to unlock it, some Instagram notification popping up under Gemma's Whatsapp text. He deletes it with a swipe to the right, which causes the other notification to expand a bit. It reads:

 _Contact: Louis Tomlinson._

Harry unlocks his phone and opens the message. His thumb hovers over the contact, still unsure about what to do. With another sigh - this one a bit more dramatic than the last one - he opens the contact and presses the call button.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! I've been reading exclusively Larry fics for the past year so I guess this was bound to happen. It's my first time doing this so... I don't really know what I'm doing haha. I haven't even planned how many chapters I'm going to write, but I've set my mind to finish it as soon as possible. Also, English is not my first language so every comment is welcomed! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying writing it :)
> 
> \- philosopher of nothing


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